1. Field of the Present Invention
The present invention generally relates to air flow management within an electronic equipment enclosure, and in particular to, a side-to-side airflow control system to promote cooling of server equipment that utilizes side-to-side airflow.
2. Background
Racks, frames, cabinets and the like for supporting computer and other electronic equipment are well known. Such support apparatuses are often partially or fully enclosed, either directly through the use of doors and panels mounted directly thereon, or indirectly by lining several such apparatuses up in a row such that the sides of each rack are immediately adjacent another rack.
As is also well known, the electronic equipment mounted therein tends to generate large amounts of heat that need to be exhausted away from the equipment effectively in order to maintain the equipment in proper operating order or to prevent damage thereto. As equipment has become more densely packed with electronics, the quantities of heat have continued to increase in recent years. Heat management has thus become a significant issue confronting today's rack, cabinet, frame and enclosure manufacturers, the manufacturers of the electronic equipment, and the users of such equipment.
Each piece of equipment is often enclosed within an individual chassis or housing that includes a location, typically referred to as an exhaust grille, where air that has been circulated therethrough is exhausted. The heated air is frequently forced or forcibly drawn out of the various active pieces of equipment through exhaust grilles of the equipment by internal fans, often supplemented by separate fans mounted in or on the enclosure. In many pieces of equipment, the exhaust grille is located on the rear of the equipment, and the equipment is often cooled by bringing cool air to the front of the equipment and exhausted through the rear, often through a door or through exhaust openings in a panel. Other equipment uses the opposite configuration, wherein cool air is brought to the rear of the equipment and exhausted through the front; this may be handled generally similarly as the rear exhaust except that the front and rear of the cabinet are generally reversed.
However, other equipment is arranged to receive cold air from the side and to exhaust heated air from the opposite side. For example, a common piece of electronic equipment in modern computer networks is a switch. Switches tend to generate a significant amount of heat, and therefore are of particular concern in exhausting heat from an electronic equipment enclosure, and at least some are manufactured with inlets on one side and exhaust grilles on the other side. Such equipment requires different treatment than front/rear exhaust equipment.
Currently, in order to remove heated switch exhaust air from the side of an electronic equipment enclosure, the switch exhaust grille is coupled with or connected to an individual exhaust duct that is specifically designed and sized to fit the particular type of switch being used. It is important that the switch grille and the exhaust duct inlet are similarly sized so that exhaust air is routed outside of the enclosure through the duct rather than being released into the interior of the enclosure where it would adversely affect the equipment stored therein. Because of the individual sizing, a different exhaust duct must be used for differently sized switches.
One solution has been presented in commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/123,453, filed May 19, 2008 and published Dec. 25, 2008 as US 2008/0316702 A1 (the “'453 application”), which is incorporated herein by reference. In particular, adjustable filler panels are disclosed for more precisely controlling airflow above and below side inlets and outlets in certain types of side-to-side equipment. However, such an arrangement presents only a partial solution. In particular, such an arrangement does not work well with exhaust ducts located at the top of the enclosure, particularly on the top panel thereof.
One improved solution has been presented in U.S. Pat. No. 7,957,139, issued Jun. 7, 2011 to Davis et al, but other improvements are believed to be useful, including improvements related to greater customization, improved frame strength, convenience of construction, and the like. Thus, a more versatile, adjustable solution is needed.